If
the Streets' mash-up of geezer raps, decks, sound systems
and goggle-eyed urban tales sounded like a one-off,
this duo from Surrey suburbia suggests a whole generation
of would-be Mike Skinners may be waiting in the UK's
bedrooms.

However, Audio Bullys aren't just the Streets Mk II,
even if their lyrics plough a similar furrow of late-night
druggy tales, fast cars, arguments with mums, rolling
Rizlas and badly pronounced swear words (notably "fark").
Wordsmith and wideboy Simon Franks is equal parts Skinner,
Shaun Ryder and bellowing builder, but the sounds -
courtesy of DJ Tom Dinsdale - come from a different
palate.
Over 13 tracks, not one a filler, they mix everything
from punk to electro, house and disco, and end up like
a delirious collision of the Specials and Basement Jaxx.
Audio Bullys' tunes may be better than Skinner's - particularly
the rampaging We Don't Care, or Way Too Long, which
uses a snatch of an Elvis Costello guitar riff to dazzling
effect.

Gillian
Welch: Soul Journey

Not
for Gillian Welch Dolly Parton's doe-eyed bubblegum
or the Dixie Chicks' rock-chick bluegrass. She strips
country back to its spiritual and storytelling roots.
Perhaps best known in the UK for her appearances on
the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, Welch has
refined her bare and beautiful songs and on Soul Journey
embraces the blues. Loss and loneliness are her closest
friends.
Look at Miss Ohio is an understated snapshot of a beauty
queen turned bad, the wasted potential and abandoned
dreams potent in the chords of the slide guitar. Subtle
keyboards add to the nostalgia for Nashville's golden
era and her own happier past in Wayside/Back in Time,
but Welch is most powerful when it's just her and her
acoustic guitar.

I Had a Real Good Mother and Father is devotional, Make
Me a Pallet on Your Floor, desperate. In One Little
Song, she seeks "one little word that ain't been
abused a thousand times", but the tragic quality
to her voice turns a lyrically detailed list of possibilities
into an extended goodbye.